What If It's a Terrible Life
by Katy M VT
Summary: What if Sam and Dean didn't get their memories back?  Chapter 6 of 6 up.
1. Who are we?

What if Sam and Dean didn't get their memories back?

"I've never had so much fun in my whole life?" Dean said as he grabbed out a first aid kit for him and his new friend Sam.

"Me neither. We should keep doing this," Sam said.

"Yeah, right. We could be like the ghostfacers," Dean joked.

"No, I'm serious. There have to be other ghosts out there, we could save a lot of people," Sam pressed.

"What? You mean quit our jobs and hit the road? How would we live?" Dean asked. He was a businessman. This made no sense.

"Confession," Sam said.

"What?" Dean asked warily.

"You know those dreams I told you I was having? About ghosts? Well, I was hunting them….with you. We were these hunters and we were friends." He paused, realizing that wasn't quite right. "More like brothers."

"It's over. The ghost is dead. We go back to our regular lives," Dean said.

"This isn't you. You're not some corporate douche bag. I know you," Sam insisted. And he knew it. Deep down, he knew that he had known this man his whole life. Why he couldn't remember, he didn't know.

"You don't know me. I think you should leave," Dean said.

SSS

The Next Day

Sam was sitting in his cubicle wondering what the point was. His phone rang. He just stared at it. It was going to be that same idiot with the printer problem. How many times did he have to be told to turn it off and then turn it on again? The phone kept ringing and ring. He picked up the fire poker he had used on the ghost last night and swung it against the phone. Then he swung again and again and again. All the other techs had stopped what they were doing to stare. "I quit," he said. Pretty obvious, since he would be fired if he didn't.

SSS

Dean was working on his newest account.

"Got a minute?" the President of the company asked.

"Of course," Dean said.

"I've been hearing good things about you."

"Thank you," Dean answered. It was always good if the President of a company took notice of you.

"I think you're on the fast track of success. How does vice-president of sales for the Midwest division sound?"

"That sounds great," Dean beamed. He wasn't quite 30 years old. This was quite the accomplishment.

"Well, it won't be easy. You'll have to work weekends, through lunch, but I think by this time next year, you'll be ready."

"Thank you, sir," Dean beamed, picturing his portfolio bouncing back with the extra investing he would be able to do.

SSS

Sam tried to figure out his next step. He needed to learn more about hunting. He decided to start with the Ghostfacers. It had been really lucky that Dean had found that website. They seemed like they really knew what they were talking about and he was sure they would want to help him.

SSS

Dean remembered what that guy Sam had said. He had asked when he had last talked to his family because his fiancee's number was a vet's office. He pulled out his phone to call.

"Singer Salvage."

Dean was confused. That certainly sounded like his father, but his father was a retired insurance agent, not a salvage guy.

"Dad?" Dean asked.

Bobby was confused. Why would Dean call him dad? "Dean, is that you?"

"Yeah. Dad?"

"You know I think of you like a son, but you've never called me dad before. Why are you doing it now?" Bobby asked.

"I think something weird is going on."

What else is new? "Like what?"

"I don't know. It all happened when I met this guy named Sam."

"Sam? Your brother?" This was getting very strange.

"What are you talking about? I don't have a brother, just a sister," Dean didn't know what was going on, but his father was acting very strangely.

"This Sam. Is he tall, brown long hair, brown eyes?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"He's your brother."

SSS

Sam knocked at the garage door where he had tracked the Ghostfacers to. The one with the beard opened the door.

"What are you doing here?" he yelled.

Sam was surprised. He didn't know these guys, why was he being so hostile? "I want to learn how to hunt ghosts," Sam said.

"What?" Ed asked. As much as he hated to admit it, the Winchesters knew more about ghosts than he and Harry did.

"I found your website and took care of this ghost. I want to keep doing it, but I think I need to learn more stuff first," Sam explained.

"Who is it?" Harry asked, wondering what was taking Ed so long.

"It's Sam Winchester," Ed answered.

"My last name's Wesson." Wait a minute, he never said his name. And weren't these guys complaining about the Winchesters?

Ed let Sam in. It was cold out and if they were going to continue this stupid conversation, they should do it inside.

"He says he wants us to teach him how to hunt ghosts," Ed said.

"Is this some kind of a joke? Where's Dean?" Harry asked.

"Dean Smith?" Sam asked.

"No. Dean Winchester. Your brother," Harry said.

"I don't have a brother," Sam said tentatively, remembering his dreams. "I think something weird is going on. You think we've met before?" Sam asked.

"We've met twice," Harry said. "Once in West Texas. There was a haunted house, but the ghost turned out not to be a ghost. To tell you the truth, we're not entirely sure what happened there. You guys weren't very forthcoming. The second time was in New York. There was a house haunted by a ghost every leap year. A member of our team got killed. We have to admit you guys saved the rest of us, but you destroyed our footage, so we're kind of pissed."

Sam wasn't sure what he should do next. Apparently, Dean was his brother and they both already knew how to kill ghosts. But they both remembered different lives. How would they get their memories back?

SSS

Dean pulled into Singer Salvage following the directions his father had given him. Except that apparently he wasn't his father, his mother wasn't his mother, and he didn't have a sister. He had a push brother who wanted to hunt ghosts.

"Dean," Bobby said as he came out to greet him. "Glad you could make it. We'll straighten all this out."

Dean wasn't sure he wanted to straighten this out. He was on the fast track in his career, making good money. The life he had forgotten seemed better left forgotten. Yes, he had fun hunting that one ghost, but he was pretty sure the thrill would wear off quickly.

"Do you know where Sam is?" Bobby asked.

"No idea. He quit and left the day after we killed the ghost. He didn't leave a forwarding address or anything."

"I tried his cell phone, but whatever took your memories probably switched your phones so nobody could call you," Bobby reasoned.

"OK, so I guess we can't find him," Dean said.

Bobby realized this might be harder than he thought. The Dean he knew wouldn't just give up on finding Sam just because they didn't know how.

"What do you know about him?" Bobby sighed. He had to get into "new" Sam's head.

"I thought you knew him," Dean said.

"I know Sam like I know you, which right now is not at all," Bobby tried to explain, wondering if that sounded as stupid out loud as it did in his head.

"He said he moved because he broke up with his fiancée Madison, and he called her and he got an animal hospital. He worked in tech support and he was having weird dreams about ghosts and vampires."

Bobby almost chuckled over the animal hospital. Someone had a sense of humor. Where else would you find a dead werewolf? There wasn't much there to tell him where Sam might go, though.

"He wanted to continue hunting ghosts?" Bobby confirmed.

"Yeah, he said we could be like the Ghostfacers," Dean rolled his eyes.

"Ghostfacers?" Bobby asked.

"Yeah. We found an instructional website."

"Let's see it," Bobby said and headed in to the computer.

Dean typed in the address. Bobby watched. "You know these guys," Bobby said.

"I do?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Those annoying douchebags, the Winchesters, they keep talking about are you and Sam. I don't know where you ran into these idgits, but maybe Sam went to see them."

SSS

Ed and Harry finished telling Sam all the stuff that he had told them. This was kind of messed up. If they could get him on their side as far as the TV show, he would be a real asset. They heard a knock on the door.

"It's the other one," Ed moaned back to Harry when he opened the door. "And an old guy."

"Watch it," Bobby growled. "Is Sam here?"

"Yeah," Ed said. There goes their asset.

"Dean," Sam said, surprised when he saw Dean along with some guy he didn't know. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," Bobby answered. "Dean's your brother and you guys apparently have a memory problem."

"Yeah, these guys told me."

"How are we going to get our memories back?" Sam asked.

"You should probably figure out what took it away," Harry said.

"That's a good idea," said Bobby. "But we got no idea what you boys were doing when your memory got snatched."

"Maybe it was the ghost at the office," Dean suggested.

"No. If it was you would have probably got your memories back when he died. And what would you have been doing there in the first place? You wouldn't get those jobs just to hunt a ghost," Bobby decided.

Suddenly they heard a flapping behind them.

"Who are you?" Sam asked.

"Castiel. I'm an angel. A different angel took away your memories."

"Why?" Dean asked.

"It's a long story," Castiel said.

"Can you fix them?" Bobby asked.

"I can't undo the original memory erase that Zachariah placed on them, but I can do something else."

"What?" Sam and Dean asked together. They then gave each other odd looks.

"I can give you back all your memories in six days. The first day you'll have all your memories up until you were five, the second day until you were ten, and so on. You'll also physically be five, ten, fifteen, and so on."

"Well, that sounds like fun," Bobby grumbled.

"Cool," Ed said. "This could be fun to document."

"Yeah, let me set up the camera. Figure out how we should do this," Harry said.

"These two are annoying. Let's do this at Bobby's," Castiel said and touched Dean, Sam, and then Bobby on the head sending them to Bobby's house.

"How did we get here?" Dean asked.

Sam looked around. He didn't even know where here was. Castiel appeared and touched Sam and Dean again. "This will take effect tomorrow morning." With that Castiel disappeared again.

"Great. Maybe we should all get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow's going to be a long day."

Bobby showed Sam and Dean up to their room and went to his own room to go to sleep.


	2. Five

Dean woke up and looked around. Where was he? Who was that kid in the other bed? Where was his dad?

"Dad!" he yelled. "Dad!"

Sam woke up to yelling. Who was that kid yelling in the next bed? Where were Dad and Dean?

Bobby heard the shouting and ran into the room.

"Uncle Bobby!" Sam exclaimed and jumped out of bed and ran over to Bobby and flung himself around Bobby's leg. "Where's Dad and Dean?" he asked.

"Who are you? Where's my dad?" Dean asked. "And Sammy?" he added as an afterthought. He really wanted his dad. Sammy was just a baby. He wouldn't be much help right now.

"Your dad went out for the day," Bobby said. "You boys are going to spend the day here."

"Can we have pancakes for breakfast?" Sam asked. Uncle Bobby made the best pancakes.

"I don't even know you. Why would my dad leave me with you? Where's Sammy? Is he with my Dad?" Dean was starting to panic. His mom had just died a couple of months ago. Maybe his dad and Sammy had died too and this man didn't want to tell him that.

"Sam, why don't you go downstairs and watch cartoons for a little while? I'll be down soon to make the pancakes," Bobby said. He realized Sam was going to be a lot easier than Dean. Sam knew him. He wouldn't meet Dean for another year.

Sam went downstairs and Bobby turned his attention to Dean. "It's OK, son. Your father and brother will be back tomorrow." He figured there was no point in trying to convince Dean that Sam was his brother, or vice versa. They would just be kids who happened to share the same name as their sibling. No reason not to lie to him about his dad being back tomorrow. By then, they'd be ten years old and they would probably have to go through this all over again. At least Dean will know who he is tomorrow.

"Can we call my dad?" Dean asked. He would feel better if he heard all this from his dad? Where would his dad go that he could bring Sammy and not him?

"Maybe later," Bobby hedged, hoping he would forget about it. "Why don't you go watch cartoons with Sam?"

"That other kid's name is Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Weird."

Dean went downstairs and found the other kid watching TV. "So you know this guy?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. He's my uncle Bobby," Sam said, not looking away from the TV screen.

Bobby came downstairs and went into the kitchen to make pancakes. Dean looked to make sure he was busy and he slipped out the door. He was going to find his father. He had no idea where to look, but he knew he couldn't stay here.

SSS

"Pancakes are ready," Bobby said and looked around. "Where's Dean?"

"You said he was with my dad," Sam answered.

"No, that other kid that was here this morning. His name is Dean, too."

"Oh. He left," Sam said matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean he left?" Bobby asked.

"He left while you were making pancakes."

"OK, they're ready. Go start eating and if you finish, do not leave this house. Understand?" Bobby said. The last thing he needed was two missing kids.

"OK," Sam said.

Bobby was glad that Sam was more agreeable at five than he was in later years.

He ran outside. He was about to yell for Dean when he thought better of it. Dean had left because he thought he was being kidnapped. He wouldn't be likely to answer to calling.

SSS

Dean had meant to get out of this place quick, but as soon he had gotten outside he got distracted by all the neat stuff. He ran from car to car, climbing in and out of them. He head that man come out of the house and hid so that he wouldn't see him. He saw the man headed for the road. He was probably looking for him. He decided to wait here until the guy got sick of looking and went back in the house. Then he would definitely leave. He lay down on the seat of an old car and soon he fell asleep.

SSS

Bobby had walked two miles away from the house. He had no idea which direction Dean had gone. He would have to go back to the house and check on Sam and then figure out where to look for Dean. Maybe he could get that stupid angel back here and he could just zap to Dean and bring him back.

As he walked back to the house, he decided to check in amongst the cars. Dean had always loved running around in their when he was little. Sure enough, he found Dean asleep, curled up on the back seat of a car with no doors.

"Dean, wake up," Bobby said and gave him a little shake.

Dean jerked awake and shied away from the strange man. He had messed up by not getting out earlier. He kicked the man and ran.

"Balls," Bobby muttered and chased after Dean. Dean was younger, but Bobby had longer legs. He caught up with him, lifted him up and carried him back to the house, with Dean screaming the entire time.

"What's wrong with him?" Sam asked from his seat back in front of the TV.

"He's just scared. His dad left him with me, but he's never met me before."

Bobby knew that even at five, Dean was resourceful. He hated to do it, but decided the best course of action was to lock him in the panic room. He grabbed some paper and pencils so Dean could draw and some food and carried him downstairs. Dean never stopped screaming. "Sorry kid," Bobby said and shut the door. He would check on him every couple of hours. It was going to be a long day.

SSS

After spending the day playing games with Sam and checking on a surly Dean, Bobby noticed with gratitude it was time for bed. "Come on, Sam, bedtime."

"OK. Will Dad be here tomorrow?"

"I think so," Bobby said. He was pretty sure it didn't matter what he said about tomorrow. The boys would be ten, then. Luckily, Dean would know him then.

SSSS


	3. Ten

Sam woke up. He recognized the room as the one they stayed in when they visited Uncle Bobby, but he didn't remember coming here. He got up and went out into the hallway. "Uncle Bobby?" he called softly.

Bobby had just woken up himself and heard Sam's tentative call. He went out into the hallway. "Hey, Sam," he said.

"How did I get here? I don't remember coming," Sam said.

"Your dad drove you here last night."

"Can we have pancakes?" Sam said, knowing Uncle Bobby made the best pancakes.

"Sure," Bobby smiled. He was going to have to make pancakes every day until this was over. "Why don't you go watch TV?"

"OK."

SSS

Dean woke up. He looked around. There were symbols on the floor. He tried the door. It was locked. "Let me out!" he yelled. Where was Sammy? His dad had left for a hunt last night and told him to watch Sammy. He hoped that whoever brought him here had only taken him and that Sammy was still safe at the motel.

"Hey, calm down," Bobby said as he opened the door.

"Bobby?" Dean asked. Was Bobby rescuing him from whatever had taken him?

"Come on upstairs," Bobby said.

Dean followed him. "Hey, this is your house," Dean said.

"Yep," Bobby said.

"Did you lock me in that room?"

"It's complicated," Bobby said as he started making the pancake batter.

Sam came in the kitchen to see what was going on. That kid looked just like Dean did a few years ago.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Dean. Who are you?"

"Why are you younger?" Sam asked instead of answering Dean's question.

"Younger than what? Who is this?" he asked Bobby.

"OK, this is kind of complicated," Bobby said. "Dean, this is Sam. Your brother Sam."

"Sam's a little kid. This kid's my age," Dean protested.

"I know. Something weird happened. It'll all be straightened out in a few days. I promise."

"Well, where's Dad?" Dean asked.

Bobby wasn't going to explain that John was dead every day. That would suck. "He's out getting what we need to get you back to normal. You got de-aged a bit." That was close enough to the truth, well except the part about John anyway.

"So, I'm going to be the same age as Dean for a couple of days. That is so cool," Sam said.

"Yeah, I guess you'd think it would be," Bobby conceded. This was going much better than yesterday.

"Wow. We're the same height and everything," Sam noted as he compared himself to Dean.

"Don't get used to it. After this is fixed, I'm always going to be taller," Dean pronounced. He couldn't believe this kid was Sam, but didn't see why Bobby would lie about it, so he would just accept it for now.

Bobby hid a smile. He wouldn't disillusion Dean about that either.

"When's Dad coming back?" Dean asked.

"He'll be here tomorrow," Bobby said, sticking with the same lie he told yesterday. The boys were used to their father being gone a lot at this point. Actually, he supposed the right term would be points.

"What do you boys want to do today?" Bobby asked as they sat down to pancakes.

"Can we go to the park?" Sam asked. There was a really great park near Uncle Bobby's house, but his dad didn't usually like to take him. He always said "we're here to work."

"Sure, Sam," Bobby said. Bobby was enjoying this time. He had to squander five year old Dean yesterday, but today would be all about them being kids. They had had enough of their childhood stolen from them, he would make sure they got today, at least.

"The park's for kids," Dean whined.

Bobby had forgotten how quickly Dean really had grown up. "Why don't you be a kid just for today?" Bobby suggested.

"But," Dean started.

"Look, don't you want to make your brother happy?" Bobby asked, trying the one thing that might actually make Dean have some fun.

"Yeah, OK," Dean agreed.

SSS

When they got to the park, Sam ran for the see-saw. "Dean, we can actually do this now, since we're the same size. Come on."

Dean knew how much Sam loved the see-saw, but he could never do it unless he found someone close to his same size. Dean ran over to see-saw with his brother. This would probably be the only chance they got.

Bobby smiled as he watched the boys play. In a way, he wished they could just stay like this. Get a second chance at growing up. But he knew that wasn't possible. Today would be their last day of childhood. He wished John could be here to see it. John Winchester had had his faults, but Bobby knew that he had regrets about how he had raised his boys. He would have loved to watch them have a day of fun.

Sam and Dean had abandoned the see-saw and were swinging. Dean was trying to act grownup, but Bobby could tell he was having fun playing with a brother who he didn't have to look out for. Sam was his equal today in a way he could never be again. Even as adults. Bobby wasn't sure why, he just knew it to be true.

After a couple of hours they went back home. "You boys want to help me work on a car?" Bobby asked, knowing he did have get some work done at some time.

"Yeah," Dean yelled enthusiastically.

"Sure," Sam mumbled. He wanted to help Bobby because he loved him, but him and cars didn't really mix.

Bobby noticed the lack of enthusiasm. "You don't have to. I've got some new books." He must have gotten something new in the last 15 years after all.

"Thanks, Bobby."

"What a geek," Dean said. He couldn't believe his brother was going to grow up to prefer books to cars. That was just nuts.

SSS


	4. Fifteen

Sam woke up. Looked like Dean was still conked out on the next bed. They had come to Bobby's yesterday to celebrate his 15th birthday. Dean had insisted since Sam and dad had been fighting so much lately. Dean said they needed a little time off and Sam's birthday was the perfect excuse. Not that he ever remembered celebrating a birthday before. In their family you were lucky if someone said happy birthday in an off-handed manner.

"Morning, Bobby," Sam said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Morning, Sam. Dean still sleeping?"

"Looked like it. I could barely see him, he was all under the blankets. Can we have pancakes?"

"Already on it," Bobby said.

"Morning," Dean said, dragging into the kitchen. He opened his eyes a little wider when he saw Sam. He looked too much like Sam not to be Sam, but Sam was 11. That kid was older than 11.

Sam looked over at Dean. He looked like he did a few years ago.

"What's going on?" they both asked at the same time.

Bobby was getting sick of having the same conversation every day. He remembered Sam telling him that last year he had to live the same day over 100 times. This wasn't as bad as that, but he could see why Sam would have been frustrated. "You've both been de-aged. It will be fixed in a couple of days. Eat your pancakes."

"De-aged. What does that mean?" Dean asked.

"Just what it sounds like. You're both younger than you should be. It's 2009."

"Why? What did it?" Sam asked.

Bobby sighed. "What difference does it make? You're going to forget tomorrow, and honestly, I'm sick of having the same conversation every day. Tomorrow, you'll both be 20. Just enjoy being 15 again. I would love it if I could be 15 again."

"OK," Sam shrugged. He could imagine it would be annoying to have the same conversation over and over again and it sounded like he was going to forget everything anyway.

"Can we go into town?" Dean asked. Sometimes Dad and Bobby let him walk with Sam into town. At least this time he wouldn't have to keep Sam out of trouble. He couldn't believe they were the same age.

Bobby considered. He couldn't see any reason why not. "Go ahead, but be back in time for supper."

"OK. Come on Sam."

Sam followed Dean outside. It was weird, Dean not being older than him. "Hey, Dean. I'm taller than you," Sam noticed.

"So, not cool."

Sam laughed. This probably meant he would end up taller than Dean. Dean would hate that.

"So, what's been happening the last 4 years?" Dean asked. Bobby might be sick of having the same conversation over and over, but this was just as new to Sam as it was to him.

"Nothing's changed," Sam said in a dejected voice. He hated this hunting life. "Hey. I wonder where Dad is?"

"We'll ask when we go back. He's probably researching whatever did this."

"Yeah. He didn't like having teenagers the first time around, probably wasn't want to deal again." Sam didn't really care about what his dad did or didn't want. He was just upset to realize he was still hunting 10 years from now.

"Dad doesn't have a problem with me being a teenager," Dean said doubtfully. Maybe that was why he'd been off hunting more lately.

"OK. If you want to get technical, Dad doesn't like me as a teenager. He says I'm too disrespectful and I don't have my priorities straight."

If that was true, Dean would have a talk with their father. If he showed up before he forgot this conversation.

"Hey, this is new," Dean said as they found an arcade.

Sam and Dean walked in and Dean started playing a game while Sam watched. He wasn't in the mood to play.

"It's my turn," some kid said as he and 3 of his friends walked up.

"Soon as I'm done," Dean said.

"Now," the kid insisted and pulled Dean away from the game.

"Hey," Sam said and tackled the kid.

Sam protecting me? This is so not how this is supposed to work. He started punching one of the other kids. Pretty soon the manager came over and broke it up. "Get out of here before I call the cops," he said.

The three other kids ran off and Sam and Dean returned to Bobby's.

"You boys have fun?" Bobby asked.

They had decided not to tell him about the fight. "I guess," Dean said. He was still upset by the fact that Sam had come to his rescue. It was his job to look after Sam, not the other way around.

Sam could tell that Dean was pissed that he had intervened in the fight. They were all the same size , though, so he didn't see what the big deal was.

"Why are you mad at me?" Sam asked, when Bobby had gone outside to do some work.

"I'm not mad. It's just that I realized that things aren't always going to be the same. I want things to always be the same. You, me, and Dad, hunting. Me always being able to protect you. Some day you're going to be older and your problems are going to be just as big as mine and I may not always be able to solve them."

"That's just life, Dean. That's what's supposed to happen," Sam said.

"You don't understand because you're not a big brother."

"Dean, you'll always be my big brother. Things won't always be exactly the same between us, but they'll always be good."

"Promise? We might drift apart."

"I promise that we will never drift apart. We'll never do anything to hurt each other. We'll always be brothers."

Bobby walked back in and heard that last part. He only wished it could be true. But he knew that it wasn't.


	5. Twenty

Sam woke up. He looked around. He had done something very uncharacteristic last night. His friend Brady had talked him into going to a kegger, where he had introduced him to this beautiful girl Jessica. She hadn't stuck around long and after she had left, Sam had gotten drunk. He had been so nervous and unable to talk to her, but he knew that he wanted to get to know her. So, he had drunk himself into oblivion. Now, he needed to figure out where he was. He looked around. Was that Dean on the next bed? He was at Bobby's. He didn't know how this happened, but he figured he better get out of here before he had another blowout with his father. He got up quietly and slipped out of the house without seeing anyone.

SSS

Dean got up and noticed that Sam's bed was empty. Geek must be up already. He went downstairs. Bobby was making pancakes. "Morning."

"Hey. Your brother still sleeping?"

"No."

"What do you mean no?" Bobby asked.

"His bed's empty. Dad's been on his case for working out more, he's probably out jogging. Where is Dad anyway?"

"Not here. We need to find Sam," Bobby said. He should have realized Sam would take off this morning. He would have been at Stanford at this age.

"What's the big deal?" Dean asked. Sam had been surly and moody lately. Dean was pretty sure he wasn't that obnoxious when he was 16. Dean would always love Sam, but right now he was always glad when he could get some non-Sam time.

Bobby didn't know what would happen if Sam got to Stanford and found out whatever. Probably wouldn't hurt him any, but it would probably be a better idea if he was here. He was a target for demons and didn't know it.

"It's not safe for Sam out there," Bobby said.

"Why not?" Dean immediately went into protective mode.

Bobby smiled. Some things would never change.

SSS

Sam went to the bus station. He had a couple of hours to wait for a bus to California. He hoped if Dad and Dean knew that he was there, they wouldn't come after him. He had to live his own life.

"Sam? What happened to you? I've been looking for you everywhere."

"Who are you?" Sam asked. He wondered if this was someone he met last night. If so, he hoped he hadn't done anything bad to her.

"It's me. Ruby. What happened to you? You look younger."

"Younger than what? How do I know you?"

Ruby sighed. "Come with me."

"I don't think so," Sam replied. For one thing, he was getting a weird vibe from her. For another thing, if there was one thing he learned from hunting it was to not go off with people you didn't know. Especially if they acted like they knew you.

"Sam!"Dean yelled as he and Bobby went into the bus station. He didn't really figure they would find Sam here, but Bobby had been pretty insistent. Sam looked a little older, though. Maybe that wasn't Sam.

Sam turned and saw Dean and Bobby. At least it wasn't his Dad, too. They came over.

"What's going on?" Ruby asked.

"Long story," Bobby said. "Everything will be back to normal in a couple of days and you and Sam can resume whatever tawdry thing you got going on."

"What are you talking about, Bobby? I don't even know who this is," Sam said. "I have to get back to school."

"No, you don't," Bobby said. "It's a long story, but you don't go there anymore."

"What did Dad do?" Sam asked.

"Nothing. Just come back with us," Bobby said.

"No," Sam said and sat down.

"Yeah, we'll just stay here," Ruby said and sat down next to him.

Sam started squirming. He didn't want to go back to his father, but he also didn't want to spend the next couple of hours next to this woman. She would probably get on the bus with him.

Bobby noticed his discomfort. "Tell you what? You come back with me now and if you still want to go back to school tomorrow morning, I'll drive you myself."

"Promise?" Sam asked.

"Yep," Bobby said, knowing Sam wouldn't want to go tomorrow.

Sam stood up. "OK."

Dean had no idea what was going on. What was Sam talking about? School? He had begged Dad to let him spend the rest of the school year with Bobby so he could go to the Sioux Falls School. Why would he have to leave to do that?

Ruby was tempted to try to get to Sam again, but Bobby had said in a couple of days everything would go back to normal. Those idiots had probably been cursed by a witch or something. Bobby didn't seem worried, though, so she would just come back later. She had to admit that young Dean was kind of cute. Especially since he didn't know who she was and wasn't being his usual hostile self.

SSS

"So what's going on?" Dean asked when they got back to the house. Sam was older than he thought he should be.

"Who was that at the bus station?" Sam asked.

Bobby decided to answer the question he hadn't answered several times. "She's a demon."

"A demon?" Dean asked. He didn't like the idea of a demon anywhere near Sammy. "What did she want?"

"She's friends with Sam."

"What? I'm not friends with a demon," Sam protested, insulted.

"You will be," Bobby said. "But hopefully not today."

"What's going on?" Dean whined.

"It's 2009, but you guys both think you're 20. It was angels. You'll be back to normal in a couple of days. Sick of having this conversation. Moving on." Bobby went out to work.

"Why would you be friends with a demon?" Dean asked.

"I think maybe Bobby's a little senile," Sam said.

"I wouldn't let him hear you say that. I'm going to go help him."

Sam looked around a little. He wondered about his future. Actually, he wondered about the fact that he could just accept the fact that it was 2009 instead of 2003. Any other family there would be protestations of impossibility. After looking around for a couple of hours he didn't find anything. Bobby wasn't really big on memorabilia. Oh well, he would find out about his future the old-fashioned way.

SSS


	6. TwentyFive

Dean woke up and was surprised to see Sam in the next bed. He wondered if Dad knew that he had come back. He got out of bed and went downstairs.

"Morning, Bobby."

Bobby had already checked to make sure nobody had taken off last night. "Morning."

"Did you know Sam was here?"

"Yeah."

"Does Dad know?"

"Your Dad ain't here."

"He was last night. He said we were actually going to celebrate my birthday for once, since it was a milestone one."

Bobby remembered now. John did end up ditching on them for a hunt anyway. Even after he had promised. If John wasn't dead, he might kill him. "Sorry, Dean."

Sam woke up. He looked around. How did he get to Bobby's? He had been drunk pretty much the entire last two weeks since Dean had gone to Hell. He probably just stumbled here in a drunken stupor. He got up and went downstairs. He must still be drunk. He thought he could hear Dean's voice from the kitchen. He walked towards the voices, haltingly. He froze at the sight of Dean and Bobby talking like nothing weird was going on.

"Dean? You're back?"

Dean turned to look at Sam. He looked terrible. Something awful must have gone down at Stanford. He hadn't checked on the kid in a couple of months. Of course, he couldn't do that close of checking without him knowing he was there. "What do you mean I'm back? You're the one who ditched us for Stanford."

"That was a long time ago, Dean." Sometimes he didn't understand why Dean just couldn't let that go. He had been back with him for a while.

Sam rushed up to Dean and hugged him. "What the hell, dude?" Dean asked, but didn't push Sam away. Sam had been gone for three years and he had missed him. And he was actually kind of glad his dad wasn't here today. The fighting would have ruined the reunion.

Sam finally let Dean go. "How did you get out?"

"Get out of where?" Dean asked.

"You don't remember Hell?" Sam asked. That was probably a good thing.

"What are you talking about?" Dean asked. College had clearly fried Sam's brains. He wasn't making any sense.

"You sold your soul and went to Hell," Sam said.

Bobby was just watching this conversation. He didn't know if the boys would remember this conversation tomorrow or not, but thought maybe they might clear some things up.

"Why would I sell my soul?" Dean asked.

"You don't remember?" Sam asked. He felt bad enough that Dean had sold his soul for him, but would feel even worse if he actuallyhad to tell him.

"No. Why would I sell my soul?"

"I died and you sold your soul to bring me back," Sam admitted, hanging his dead down the whole time.

"How did you die?" Dean asked. He was obviously not on the ball if he let Sam die.

"I was stabbed in the back."

"Literally or figuratively?"

"Both," Sam smiled.

"By who?"

"A guy named Jake," Sam was getting very uncomfortable. He wasn't sure why, other than the fact that he never liked thinking about the time that he let himself be killed because of all it had caused.

"Why?"

Sam sighed. "Because a demon told him to," Sam settled on a partial truth.

"What happened to this Jake guy?"

"He's dead."

"Good. Did I kill him?"

"No, actually I did. You killed the demon, though."

"You mean I exorcised it?"

"No, you killed it."

"OK, now I know you're lying because there's no way to kill a demon."

"Yes, there is, but I don't feel like getting into all that right now. I'm just so glad you're back, even if you can't remember anything. What's the last thing you remember?" Sam asked wondering how far this went back. He figured it would probably right before his abduction to Cold Oak.

"We were about to celebrate my 25th birthday."

Sam wasn't expecting that. That was a while ago. It was kind of weird, though. He just realized it was sometime around his 25th birthday. He wasn't sure of the exact date.

"Well, if there was ever a cause for celebration, this is it," Bobby said. "What do you boys want to do today?"

"Whatever Dean wants to," Sam said at the same time Dean said, "Whatever Sam wants to."

"OK, we'll do what I want to," Bobby said. "Let's go for a beer."

SSS

Sam and Dean woke up at the same time. "How did we get here?" Sam asked.

"I don't know the last thing I remember I was in the hospital talking to Cas. Sam, I need to tell you something," Dean said. He had done so much bad in Hell, he didn't want to tell Sam this, but he had to. "I broke the first seal."

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked.

"I broke the first seal when I started torturing souls."

"You didn't know, Dean," Sam reassured him. "It's not your fault. The important thing is that we stop the last seal from breaking. OK?"

"OK," Dean said, but he didn't really mean it. He could never forgive himself for what he had done.

Sam was secretly glad of this information. Dean was always so high and mighty, he figured this would bring him down a peg or two.

The End


End file.
